The Dunera Mass

In 1940, refugees from Nazi persecution who had fled to Britain were suddenly classified as enemy aliens, transported to Australia on the ship Dunera, and held in camps in Hay and Orange, NSW, and in Tatura, Victoria. In their attempts to re-create traces of their former lives, internees ran a remarkable range of activities inside the camps, from art classes to university-style lectures and theatrical performances. As a result, they produced an extraordinary array of personal art and artefacts, from beautiful portraits and landscapes to pop-up paper models and even an unofficial camp currency. The Library has spent many years compiling collections that piece together this little-known chapter in Australian history and now holds one of largest Dunera collections in the world.

The Dunera Mass is a dramatised concert, telling the story of these refugees using the recently rediscovered music manuscripts of Dunera composer Max-Peter Meyer, with projections of artworks created by fellow Dunera refugees to illuminate the story.

Writer-researcher-narrator: Dr Nicole Forsyth

Choirs: Luminescence Chamber Singers (Artistic Director AJ America); The Oriana Chorale, Canberra

Choral Director: Roland Peelman AM

Piano quartet: Dr Anna McMichael (violin), Nicole Forsyth (viola), Stephanie Li (cello), Jem Harding (piano)

Sound engineer & producer: Jim Atkins

Music preparation by: Sophie Van Dijk & Jessica Wells, Jigsaw Music (Meyer, Piano Quartet); Patrick Baker, Dan Walker, Roland Peelman, Dr James Forsyth (Meyer, Dunera Mass); Dr Christopher Willcock SJ (Meyer, De Profundis); Tanzen Matilda musical setting by Dan Walker

Presented in association with the exhibition .

This performance is part of a project funded by Creative Australia.

Free tickets are available for First Nations audience members. Please reach out to us at to book your tickets.

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Host or Publisher State Library of New South Wales